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The Centauri Device

The Centauri Device

Author: M. John Harrison

Do you know what they used to call cyberpunk in the 70s? "Hippie space opera", according to the New Worlds Magazine. At least that's what they called Harrison's third space opera book The Centauri Device. These days, we'd all think of Harrison's novel with its port cities with Bladerunner-esque junk and hookers as cyberpunk space opera, not hippie space opera. The Centauri Device follows John Truck, a scummy, drug-selling spaceship captain who is the last of the Centaurians, as he is hunted by General Alice Gaw (head of the Israeli World Government), Gadhafi ben Barka (head terrorist) and Dr Griskin (a leader of the Opener Cult) Truck's mother was one of the last Centaurians before the genocide. Now there's a group of people who want him to arm a powerful bomb that only responds to Centaurian DNA, the Centauri Device. It's a dark and gritty world that Harrison envelopes the reader in - the Arab and Isreali conflict has split the planet and Truck as our hero is the epitome of the fallen hero stereotype. It's not just space opera, this novel falls firmly within the hardboiled and cyber punk genres too, giving fans of all types of dark fiction something to sink their teeth into. And if you're still not convinced about this hard breed of space opera, Harrison was also the editor of the British science fiction magazine, New Wave.

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